Bandra police said the accident occurred at 11.15 am, when Mehmuda, a resident of a nearby slum, ran across the road, taking the Sumo's driver, Sambhaji Mahindale, by surprise.

The driver applied full brakes, but succeeded in stopping the vehicle only after the girl was knocked down. But Mahindale didn't try to drive away. Unmindful of an angry mob gathering around, he got off the Sumo and tried to help the girl, who had received serious injuries on her head and chest.

Police said Mahindale would surely have been bashed up by the crowd, but for the presence of a constable who tried to pacify the angry crowd. However, a group of around 50 people sat on the road and staged a rasta roko demanding Mahindale's arrest.

It took some eyewitnesses to the accident from the Subhanallah restaurant across the road tofinally convince the crowd that the mishap didn't occur due to the driver's fault.

The constable took the girl to Bhabha hospital, where she was declared dead before admission. Mahindale, who accompanied the girl to the hospital, was later arrested by Bandra police, and the Sumo has been seized.

Today's accident has again highlighted the need to ease traffic congestion on S V Road at Bandra.

While BMC has managed to remove hawkers near the station, the stretch of S V Road from Bandra Talkies to the station junction is still encroached upon by hawkers on both sides, and pedestrians have to literally walk in the middle of one of the busiest roads in the suburbs.